Police begin to provide vocational skills to common criminals

Police have appealed to the public to report criminals so that they can be rehabilitated by enrolling them in different government skills programmes. Commander of the Kampala Metropolitan Police, Mr Richard Ecega, who took over the Biwologoma Police Station at the Clock Tower in Kampala on Saturday, said there was a need to counsel ex-convicts who had served their prison sentences and returned to society but were unable to reform. They are given vocational skills that will enable them to earn a decent living.

“These are the same people whose phones are ringing. After serving their sentences, they return and are recognized. We will do our part, we will change others; When they go to Luzira and Kigo, they learn new skills. “We currently have a team that deals with ghetto youth in Kanyanya,” he said.

Mr Ecega said they were guided by President Museveni and the Inspector General of Police who adopted the programme. He explained that this was after ex-convicts who had benefited from training in carpentry, salon and mushroom cultivation admitted that they were dragged into criminal activities as they did not have any socio-economic activities to do.

On Saturday, BAP’s Charities, an Indian organization, handed over the Biwologoma Police Station in the Clock Tower to the police. The police station was built by the organization at the request of the Force in order to combat crimes in the area.

Kampala Central Regional Police Commander, Mr Martin Okoyo, said the area where the newly built police station is located was one of the biggest crime blackspots in the city.

He said the recent construction of the flyover had restricted the activities of criminals who had retreated to the outskirts of the city.

Mr. Okoyo praised the cooperation between the community and the police, which helped identify the land on which the police station would be built and the funder to build it.

Mr. Ajay Singh, spokesperson of BAP Charities, said that they established the charity in 1907 to honor Lord Swaminarayan and thus created 116 humanitarian services aimed at improving the quality of social life in the regions where they operate.